


stupid in love with you

by necrospider



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: (nursey's moms die), M/M, Minor Character Death, Trans!Dex, it's not really a plot point but my dex is always trans i love my son, they adopt nursey's sister it's pretty gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 12:33:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9385406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necrospider/pseuds/necrospider
Summary: When Nursey's parents die, it's not even a question that Dex will move in with the remaining Nurses.





	

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: this is based on my experiences both as a trans person and as a person with a deceased parent these experiences are not the same for everyone
> 
> (tw for parent death, more detail in end notes)

Derek Nurse has never really been exposed to children. He always had a nanny when his moms weren't around, and the nanny always took care of his little sister so he didn't have to. Now, he thinks ruefully, he probably should've listened to her advice about raising a child, because suddenly she's gone and so are his moms. He looks across the pew at his sister's face, as she stares sullenly at the wall of the church. The pastor drones on and on about how the Nurses are with each other in a better place now, and free from all earthly suffering. He looks across the pew at his sister's face, and wonders why they couldn't take him with them.

Her curls are in her face and he reaches over to push them away from her eyes. She shakes his hand off and doesn't break eye contact with the wall.

 

The funeral ends and the cab drops them off at the foot of the brownstone he's lived in all his life. The door is unlocked and he opens it quietly, carrying Aria on one hip. Will is asleep on the sofa, in wrinkled boxers and an Andover hockey sweatshirt. Nursey leads his sister to her room, tucking her in and placing a glass of water on her nightstand. He loosens his tie and goes back out to the living room to gently shake Will awake.

The other boy rises slowly and yawns before focusing on Nursey. He's on his feet in a flash, an arm on each of the taller boy's shoulders.

Despite his quick movement, his constantly loud voice is soft when he asks, "How'd it go?"

Nursey shakes his head and leans forward to place his forehead against Will's. "It was a beautiful ceremony." His voice cracks in the middle and he winces.

"But it doesn't feel like enough?"

"It feels like I'm waiting for them to come around the corner and laugh at me for falling for this stupid prank. It feels like Mama's too strong to have a heart attack, and like Mom is too smart to drive home drunk out of her mind. It doesn't feel like I just buried my parents, it feels like I've been asleep and I'll wake up in time for them to make it to graduation.

Will just nods. "I get it. Do you want dinner? I grabbed Chinese from that place down the street and got the pork you like. I got Aria's favorite chicken too but I think she's probably knocked out until tomorrow morning."

"I think I just want to go to bed, thanks babe." Nursey turns and heads for the stairs to his room. Will checks the lock on the door, flips off the living room light,and follows his boyfriend to bed.

 

Dex's shirt is on the floor and his binder is halfway over his arms when Nursey gets the call. It seems like it all happens in short intervals after that, Nursey figuring out where his sister is, (a friend's house, the friend's parents will watch Aria until Derek can get to the city), Nursey emailing his professors to tell them he can't come into class for the forseeable future, (They're second semester seniors now, it doesn't matter to him anyway), Nursey collapsing on the floor of the bathroom when he goes to brush his teeth, (Dex is there in a second, arms around him, and they sit together in silence for longer than either of them can count.)

Dex is driving and Nursey is asleep shotgun when they get into the city. They pull into the closest parking spot in front of Aria's friend's house and Dex feels like he's sleepwalking behind Nursey as he follows him into the house. He's jolted into awareness when he feels a seven-year-old crash into his boyfriend, and reaches out an arm to steady him automatically. He can see tiny pink-clad arms reaching around Nursey's back and he feels something in his chest tighten. Derek is barely into his twenties, his sister isn't even ten, and they're all that's left of the Nurses.

Dex is asleep, wrapped around his boyfriend, when he feels Nursey ease out from under his arm, leave the room and close the door behind him. Nursey comes back half an hour later and tucks himself back into Dex's arms. He touches their noses together and smiles when Dex's eyes open. "You're really shit at pretending to be asleep, you know that right?" His voice is rough and scratchy, nothing like usual.

"I know, baby. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I had to call my advisor. She says I can probably get away with staying here for the rest of the semester and still graduate on time. I don't think I can go back."

"Back to Samwell?"

"I can't leave Aria, not now. She needs to stay here to finish this school year, and there's no one for her to stay with. I wouldn't want her to stay with anyone else either. I want to stay by her side, she needs me." It's clear on his face that his mind is already set, and it takes Dex less than a second to make up his mind.

"I'm staying too. I'll make a call, and tomorrow I'll start looking for a job."

Nursey's face looks almost angry but his voice betrays him. "I can't ask you to do that for me. You deserve to have the rest of your 'perfect college experience,' I can't ask you to give it all up for me."

"Derek Malik Nurse, I'm in love with you. You are my 'perfect college experience.' Hockey season is over. For me, it's over forever. We went to the Frozen Four every year. That's so much more than 18-year-old me could have ever dreamed of in college. I'll get a job, we'll stay here until Aria finishes out this year, and then we'll go  
wherever's best for her. You two are my family, and Poindexters take care of their own."

Nursey's head is on Dex's chest and his shoulders are shaking and Dex just wraps an arm around him and pets his back as he cries.

 

 

Dex is in the driveway of the Haus, loading the boxes from the attic into his truck when Chowder finds him. Chris is unusually subdued and pulls him into a hug as soon as the last box is dropped in the bed. When they back away from each other, Dex's eyes are stinging and Chowder's look suspiciously red. The goalie reaches for a box sitting on the Haus lawn and hands it to Dex. The wrapping paper is teal, the bow is golden, and there are hearts scrawled across the top in what looks like some kind of pen.

"It's from all of us. We know why you need to go, but we'll miss our captain. And Nursey. We're not saying that you mean more to us because you're the captain, we love both of you equally-"

"Chris. Thank you. When we get settled, we'll give you a call, you should come visit."

"It's not gonna be the same without you two here."

"I know but he needs to be there and I need to be with him. Will you look out for Cards and Bell? Help them get settled?"

"Yeah, you don't even need to ask, I got your back, bro." Chowder slaps his shoulder and pushes him gently towards the truck. "Get going, your boy needs you."

Dex climbs in the truck, tosses the present into the shotgun seat and slams the door behind him. He rolls the window down to get one last look at the Haus and smiles at Chowder. "Don't be a stranger, dude."

He doesn't look back again, and doesn't cry until he's on the highway.

 

They unroll the "Haus Sweet Haus" doormat from the team outside the brownstone's door, but Nursey refuses to change anything else from the way his moms left it. There are still four chairs at the table, still a TV almost always set to the history channel even though he and Dex both prefer SyFy. There's still toast and scrambled eggs ready for Aria every morning, but Nursey has to try not to burn it. There's still someone rushing to work in the morning, but now it's Dex, hurrying to get to work at an auto shop a few blocks away. Nursey drops Aria off at school in the morning, and goes home to finish whatever work his professors emailed him the night before. Dex gets home, finishes his schoolwork, and goes to pick Aria up at school.

 

 

Like most things, it works well until everything goes to hell. Dex is home on his one day off of work, Aria is in school, and Derek is meeting with a lawyer about his parents' wills when the landline rings. Dex didn't realize there was a landline in the house until the third ring and he finds it around the fourth.

"Nurse residence, Will speaking."

"Hi, is Derek Nurse there? This is Eleanor Mitchell from Yorkville." The voice is professional but sounds clipped, like the person on the other end of the line has a thousand things they'd rather be doing.

"Sorry, he's out right now. Can I take a message?"

"Is there any other way we can contact him? There's an urgent matter that needs his attention."

"Is Aria okay?" Yorkville was Aria's school, and Dex's mind immediately jumped to an emergency, or a fight, or a missing persons case.

"Sorry, I can't discuss this with someone not on the approved guardians list. Is there any way you can contact Mr. Nurse and have him come by the school?"

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do. Have a nice day, ma'am."

He hangs up the phone before she can respond, sliding his phone out of his pocket and calling Nursey as he slides sandals on.

"Hey babes. Miss me already?" Derek's voice will always calm him down, but now's not the time to relax, so he stutters out what he knows from the phone call as he slide out of the house, locking the door behind him.

"Are you on your way now?" Dex makes a noise of assent into the phone as he climbs into the cab of his truck and puts the phone on speaker. Derek's voice fills the car as he sighs. "I'll meet you there, I should be there in fifteen?"

Dex grunts agreement again and starts the truck.

When he gets to the school, he needs to be buzzed in through the front door. He's ushered to the main office and when he opens the glass door his eyes fall on a tall blonde woman sitting at the desk. He walks to her and waits for her to look up from the tablet screen.

"Hi, I'm looking for Eleanor Mitchell?"

In case she's not already a stereotype for a woman working at a prep school, the woman lowers her glasses with one finger. "That's me."

"My name's Will, we spoke on the phone. I'm here for Aria Nurse."

She stares at him and then reaches for a file folder on the desk. "You don't look like a family member. Full name?"

He feels anxiety rise in his chest, the same way it does whenever someone says he's just going to leave the Nurses when he gets bored, the feeling that no one really sees how much he loves this family. "William Poindexter. Family friend"

Her manicured nail finds his name on the list and she turns to point at the door behind her. "She's back there, you can go in."

He walks as quickly as he can without obviously rushing past her and opens the door to see Aria curled in on herself on a small sofa. Her arms are wrapped around her knees and there's a blanket tucked over her. There's a much warmer looking woman sitting in a chair across from her, clearly trying to calm the girl down. When Dex opens the door, both of them turn, and Aria's tear-streaked face brightens when she sees him and she's on her feet in a second, running into him.

He picks her up with ease, letting her wrap her legs around his middle as her arms wrap around his neck.

"What's wrong sweetheart, what happened?" His question is addressed at the woman across the room as much as it's addressed to Aria. She plasters a sad smile on her face and looks at the ground.

"Aria's homeroom teacher was on maternity leave until this week. When she got to class, Mrs. Allen asked after her mother's health. Aria turned and left the classroom, we found her in the bathroom. She refused to return to class, so we decided it might be better for everyone if she took the rest of the day off. All of her stuff is on my desk. Do you need anything else?"

Aria was starting to get heavy in his arms so he shifted her to his right hip. "I think we'll be okay, thank you ma'am. Can we have the room until her brother gets here?"

"Yeah, of course. Have a nice day, sir." She nods at him as she walks out, shutting the door behind her. Dex collapses onto the small couch and Aria crawls into his lap.

"Do you want to talk about it, sweetheart? You don't have to."

"'m okay Dex. I just didn't want to explain it again. Mrs. Allen was gonna make a big deal about being sorry and I didn't want to hear her." Her face is pressed into the side of his neck but he tugs at her hood gently and she sits up slightly, enough that he can hear her.

"Alright. Do you want to stop by that diner you like? We have to wait for Derek to get here, but after that we can get milkshakes."

She says nothing but he can feel her nod. They sit there in silence for maybe five minutes until Nursey opens the door, obviously making an effort to do it quietly. He slides onto the couch next to Dex and wraps an arm around his shoulders, draping his other arm across his sister, still in Dex's lap.

"You guys okay?"

He's mostly looking at Dex, but when Aria speaks, his eyes snap down to her face. "I'm okay now. Mrs. Allen asked 'bout Mama and I got sad again."

Derek makes a sympathetic face and hugs both of them tighter. "You guys ready to go?"

Aria slides off of Dex's lap, grabbing her backpack from the desk as she stands. Nursey stands up and offers a hand to Dex and pulls him up. The three of them leave together, Aria in between them, each of them holding one of her hands.

"So, milkshakes?" When Nursey says it, Dex can't stop the smile that spreads over his face.

"You read my mind."

 

 

They're in bed that night, Dex reading and Nursey sketching in the margins of some book he needed to read for class, when Dex rolls onto his back next to Nursey. "Did you think about what we're gonna do this summer?"

Nursey is lying on his back, propped up against a few pillows, the book on his thighs. "Not really, why?"

"I was thinking we could visit my family. For like, a week? Ma loves you and she wants to meet Aria. I was thinking I could show you guys around where I grew up, maybe take Aria out on the boat."

Nursey's face goes kind of slack and Dex backpedals frantically. "Hey it's cool if you don't want to, I get it if you two want to stay in town. I just don't really want to leave either of you, but I want to see my mom, so I thought it could be two birds with one stone, y'know?"

Nursey stares at him and then seems to snap himself out of it. "Babe? I was gonna talk to you about this later, when I could do it right, but you're so fucking good for me and today just reminded me. We've been together for almost three years now and I can't fucking believe you're not sick of me, but I'm so stupid in love with you. God, I don't even have a fucking ring. Just, fuck Poindexter, will you marry me? Not now, but later, once we get everything settled, will you please stay with me for the rest of our lives because I can't imagine doing this without you."

There are tears in Dex's eyes but he nods and rolls over until his body is pressed against Nursey's and he can feel their hearts beating against each other.

"I can't believe you even asked, of course it's a yes, Jesus Christ baby."

 

 

(They graduate with matching engagement rings, the same golden band on each boy's hand. Aria cheers louder than all of SMH combined. They get married in Maine that summer. Chowder officiates because they couldn't decide who's best man he should be. Ransom, Bitty and Lardo are Nursey's groomspeople. Jack, Whiskey and Holster are Dex's. Aria is the flower girl.)

**Author's Note:**

> It's offhandedly mentioned that one of Nursey's moms passed away from a heart attack and the other passed away in a drunk driving accident.
> 
> In my head Cards and Bell are the sophomore d-men. Cards was bestowed his name based on his middle name "carmen," or on the fact that he once conned everyone in the Haus playing blackjack, depending on who you ask. Bell got his name because his name is Alex and Nursey's stoned mind went Alex->Alexander->Alexander Graham Bell. They get attic dibs.


End file.
